About

The Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) was founded in the city of Mahabad in Iranian Kurdistan on August 16, 1945. Three years earlier, the founding members of the PDKI had established an organization called Komalay Ziyanaway Kurd (The Society for Kurdish Resurrection). The PDKI was founded to replace Komalay Ziyanaway Kurd for the purpose of creating a modern, well-organized and popular political party with an explicit commitment to democracy, liberty, social justice and gender equality. Only 159 days after the founding of the PDKI the party established the Republic of Kurdistan. For more information on the PDKI’s history click here.

The PDKI struggles to attain Kurdish national rights within a federal and democratic Iran. Since there are other nations in Iran, the PDKI supports their struggle to achieve their national rights and regards them as strategic allies in pursuit of ending dictatorship and brining about a federal democracy that reflects the rights and interest of the country’s diverse national communities. To this end, the PDKI co-founded the Congress of Nationalities for a Federal Iran (CNFI) with organizations representing the Azeri, Balouchi, Turkmen, and Arab nations in Iran. CNFI, which is one of the main opposition groups to the sectarian theocracy in Iran, believes that a federal system of government would accommodate the different nationalities’ quest for self-rule within a free, united and democratic Iran. Read more about the CNFI by clicking here.

The PDKI is a democratic socialist party and is a member of the Socialist International (SI). For us, democratic socialism entails the belief that all human beings, whether as individuals or as members of nations, should be free and equal in all spheres of life. The PDKI’s policies on economic, political and social issues are based on these beliefs. Read more about our policies by clicking here and about our view on democratic socialism by clicking here.

The PDKI has held fifteen congresses. The 1st congress convened in 1945; the 2nd in 1964; the 3rd in 1973; the 4th in 1980; the 5th in 1982; the 6th in 1984; the 7th in 1985; the 8th in 1988; the 9th in 1992; the 10th in 1995; the 11th in 1997; the 12th in 2000; the 13th in 2004; the 14th in 2008; and the 15th in 2012.

The highest decision making body of PDKI is its congress, which is held every four years. Between two congresses the Central Committee, which is elected at the congress and is made up of 25 permanent members and 10 substitute members, is the highest decision making body. The Central Committee also elects 7 of its members to the Political Bureau, which also includes the Secretary General. The Chairperson of the PDKI’s affiliated organizations, the Democratic Women’s Union of Iranian Kurdistan, the Democratic Youth Union of Kurdistan and the Democratic Students Union of Kurdistan are automatically members of the Central Committee.

The PDKI is the official representative of Iranian Kurdistan in the UNPO and has representatives in many European countries, the United States, Canada, Australia, and organizations and institutions like the UN, EU and SI.